Less than 12 hours to go

Today is the day of the start of the new Amateur radio club, they have even managed to get a story in local newspaper The Northern Echo, which in turn made an appearance on Southgate Amateur Radio News.

The aims and objective of the club and it's founders is to get as many people involved in Amateur radio as possible, given this age of social media and mobile phones, and happily for me they are going to offer at least Foundation and Intermediate training, although I do enjoy what I do on 11-meters and PMR446, I know I can do so much more with radio, listening to GB3IR is one thing but being able to use it will be another.

I look forward to being at this new radio club tonight and I will be reporting back with how it went later on.


73 de 26CT730

T2LT update

With the new pole having arrived I strapped it to my scooter, packed up my Grant 2, my most decent SWR meter, my multimeter should I need to investigate any shorts, the dummy load in case I needed to check for any issues with the radio, which I did not need.

The pole was not 100% straight (it was propped up), the T2LT was slightly adrift at the top but otherwise fine, a small loop was also provided for tuning. but no tuning was needed as the SWR was below 1.5 at all times, reception was good across both UK and midband, the tuning loop was positioned slightly above the top of the pole with the main part of the antenna running the length of the pole, the choke also worked perfectly.

Should the weather be good on Saturday I shall be heading back up to the car park where I did the tests and will be going on air properly for the first time in a long time.

73 de 26CT730

Pole for T2LT arrived

And surprisingly it was left in the hallway by the courier, the last job for me to do will be to transport the pole, the T2LT, and a suitable radio (I was thinking the Grant 2 for this so I could ascertain reception on SSB) to tune the antenna on.  I will also need an SWR meter (internal SWR meters are not to be relied on solely).

I got it unboxed and had a look, the bottom is removable to allow sections of the pole to be removed to shorten it in increments of about 1 metre.

So, now to see if it works and the antenna tunes down.



73 de 26CT730

Amateur radio club confirmed to be starting Thursday

I have been listening to GB3IR, the local 2-metre repeater, and mentions of the new Amateur radio club actually taking place this Thursday, and I will be there for this historic occasion and to get into the Amateur radio hobby, there's only so much one can do on CB and PMR446.

I certainly look forward to seeing the faces behind of some of GB3IR's voices and taking my first steps to my Amateur radio license, so a busy week for me is ahead as I have a lot on as well as the Amateur radio club starting this week.


73 de 26CT730

Pole prep

In preparation for the pole for the T2LT, I have picked up some velcro cable fasteners, they simply wrap around the cable to hold it in place, it's supplied on a roll to be cut to the right size. so I simply can cut off one piece to wrap around the antenna and pole, and cut more pieces to the same size.

I still need to cap off the end of the exposed part of the T2LT before I can fit it to the pole for testing to keep the water out if it's out in the wet.

So, hopefully I will have this antenna set up and working within the next week. and I can finally get on the air anywhere.

73 de 26CT730

Pole for T2LT ordered

I have put an order in for a suitable pole for the T2LT, though this pole was advertised as being a flag or windsock pole it would work fine for having a piece of wire attached to it, this will allow me to tune down the T2LT to a suitable degree, though the SWR may change on location but we will see.

The tuning will be done using my President Grant 2 off either the battery pack or the scooter battery, as I don't plan any proper QSOs, I will simply erect the pole and antenna, and either prop or fasten it to a fence post, I will find some velcro straps to allow a temporary fix to the pole, and a small cable tie to loop the top section for tuning, all I have to to is adjust this loop.

I intend to use the most reliable of my 3 SWR meters for this, the meter in the Grant 2 may not be accurate but will be on to see just how accurate the onboard meter of the Grant 2 actually is, also out in the open the antenna should receive across all channels, and also all modes now we have multimode CB, I look forward to finally seeing if my third antenna attempts (I made a dipole a few years ago out of a piece of coax (but forgot the choke), the coax being used later for the ill-fated inverted-V, the T2LT uses one component used in the ill-fated inverted-V, half of the choke core, it was integrated rather than detachable.

I have confidence this antenna will work well, but I have sufficient coax to make another should the need arise.


73 de 26CT730

T2LT progress update

Today, as the weather was nice, I dug out the beginnings of my T2LT antenna and got to work measuring it up and finishing it off, though I have yet to tune it yet.

Tuning will take place as soon as a suitable pole can be acquired, the pole MUST be a fibreglass pole, a carbon or steel pole will upset the antenna and make it useless, given how busy I have been of late with other things it's been a bit difficult to find time to get the T2LT sorted, hopefully I can get it tuned down and it will work nicely, a temporary solution to a problem I shouldn't even have and perfect for hilltop DX, which I hope to do before the weather starts to turn bad, so I'll get on with it sooner rather than later.

Also it's a couple of weeks to go before the Amateur radio club supposedly starts, I will still be going to Colburn that evening but if it's a no-show there is not a lot I can do about it, but if not then it's progress for me.

So I most certainly will be on CB soon, and possibly the Amateur bands not long after.

73 de 26CT730